I’m confused about what the purpose of the open web app (OWA) is. I’m currently using the openMRS SDK and running the reference application. How does OWA come into play with the reference application or the SDK?
I read docs like this Open Web Apps Module - Documentation - OpenMRS Wiki, and it states that the purpose is to create custom UI on top of the openMRS rest API, but isn’t that what modules are for? Why couldn’t I create a module to create a custom UI? What is the difference between modules and OWAs?
Oh wow I did not know about this. What exactly is the obsolete standard? Modules approach? OWAs?
What is the connection between OWAs and the new 3.0 architecture? I noticed they don’t use any OWA’s (all their repo’s have esm in it)… so is OWA also going to be obsolete?
And for the new architecture, is it ready to start using now? I understand it is barebones as development is currently ongoing, but for the things that are developed, is there confidence in that this can be used in the real world?
The short answer is: yes exactly. The longer answer is that it will be possible for OpenMRS 3.0 (O3) to coexist with older UIs making the obsolescence of OWAs somewhat more remote (but no less certain).
Of course there is confidence that this can be used to tackle real-world use cases. O3 is not an experiment, it is the next generation of OpenMRS distributions built with clinical use cases in mind coming from a number of implementers. There’s an incredible amount of work being put collectively in it. Some features are completely new: order basket, patient lists, offline mode, desktop/mobile responsiveness, consistent UX with Carbon components, … etc etc.
We expect a minimal viable product to be out in the summer (Northern hemisphere that is). And beyond that there’s a long roadmap for developing themed packages (cc @grace). More to follow on those.